After losing everything
by Cadaverific
Summary: Draco's parents are killed by Voldemort, and he gets a new family and home - Sirius Black at Grimmauld Place 12.  This is set during the end of The Goblet of Fire and onwards.
1. The news

_They're dead._

The words still echoed in his head, making him feel empty and numb walking through the corridors of Hogwarts.

A few minutes ago, he was staring at the portraits of the former headmasters of Hogwarts in Dumbledore's office. They didn't do nor say anything, just stared back at him and Dumbledore with interest. The news the old man had bought him hit him hard in the chest like someone actually punched him.

Draco Malfoy's parents were both killed by Lord Voldemort three nights ago, the night he was resurrected. When he was, Lucius Malfoy was one of the Death Eaters that came to his side to see him finish off Harry Potter at the graveyard. That failed because Harry managed to escape, and in anger, Voldemort killed Lucius for failing the task to give him the chance to kill Harry two years ago in the Chamber of Secrets and disloyalty. After killing Lucius, Voldemort ordered three of the Death Eaters to kill Narcissa who currently where in the Malfoy Mansion, because she knew too much. He had ordered to kill Draco too, but the Death Eaters that went after him couldn't kill him, because when they found him, he was already safe inside the castles of Hogwarts.

Dumbledore had explained everything very carefully for him, leaving out no details, thinking that it would be much more fair to tell him the truth now than making him wait and possibly hear it from others.

Draco took his time to get back to Slytherin commonroom, feeling numb and desoriented. It was now 7 p.m., and the other students had already begun packing for tomorrow, which was when the Hogwarts Express would take them all back to London to finish this school year.

_What will I do now? he asked, choking on his tears._

_Don't worry Draco, I've promised you I've taken care of the matter. When you get off the train tomorrow, someone will come and pick you up, then get you to the Malfoy Manor for you to get the things you need. They will then get you to your final destination. I promise you, you'll be safe from harm._

He had to sit down, leaning on one of the stone walls. He was shaking, and his vision had gotten blurry because of the burning tears, tasting like salt. He wanted to escape, turn into the stone floors he was walking on, and just crawl into darkness, sleep and never come out again.

He looked up with crouched back, breathing heavily, blonde hair falling into his eyes, and noticed he had moved in the wrong direction, away from the commonroom. It was probably an unconscious act, beacuse he did not want to meet his friends right now, they shouldn't have to know. But they were going to leave tomorrow, he still had to pack.

Soon the students had to get back to their respective houses. He couldn't think straight, the only thing he wanted was to run away from everything in this world. He turned around and ran to the girl's bathroom, which was close from here. He knew noone ever came there, except for Moaning Myrtle.

His movements went automatically, mind concentrating on one destination, and in some minutes he found himself standing in front of the door to the bathroom. He entered, closed the door and sat down against the wall. He had never felt this alone before. Tears were running down his red and swollen face, and he closed his eyes and weeped.

_They're dead._


	2. Changing locations

_ Finally, I was able to finish this chapter! It took a bit longer than I would've wanted to, but here it is. It was very hard to write, dealing with Draco's different emotions during the day, but stuff is starting to happen now, the last chapter was more of a prologue._

Draco stood in the mass of people waiting for the doors to the Hogwarts Express to be opened, face cold and even paler than usual. The students around him were eagerly discussing the term, and whether or not Harry Potter was telling the truth about Voldemort being back. Finally, the doors slid open, and they all started moving. Draco walked behind his friends Blaise, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle through the train to their seats. He didn't say much, though they wondered what Dumbledore had wanted to tell him. Draco knew he couldn't keep quiet about the matter for too long, Crabbe and Goyle would find out anyway soon. As soon as they had sat down, he quickly whispered to them what happened, but didn't get into the details. He didn't remember their reactions.

The train started moving. At first it went slowly, but sped up, and soon different shades of green and blue started to fly by the window. There were forests, lakes and mountains outside the window. Draco got himself comfortable in his seat, leant to the wall next to said window and fell asleep.

"Draco? Draco, wake up." It was Pansy. "We've arrived."

She woke him up just in time for him to feel the train slow down and squeak. Soon, everybody was up. He looked out the window like it would give him answers, but saw nothing but bricks. He grabbed his luggage that laid on a shelf above them and started moving with the others to the doors. The other four Slytherins seemed a bit too quiet, like they had something to say but didn't know how to word it. That was probably the case, Draco thought, but didn't ask them what was troubling their minds. If he would choose, then he wouldn't have told them at all, but he knew they would have wanted to know.

When he got out, he first didn't see the man leaning against the wall because of all the people hugging loved ones, laughing and walking in front of him. The sorrow he felt made him wonder how they could be so blindly happy while he was suffering this much.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to his left.

"I'll write to you." Crabbe said quietly.

He nodded back at him, and Crabbe and the others waved at him while they slowly started walking to the wall that lead out to the station. Draco stood where he was, because Dumbledore told him someone would pick him up. After a while, he started to doubt if that was what the old man really had said, maybe he was supposed to walk out the wall to? Dumbledore, of course, hadn't told him where he would wait. What could he expect of him? But as the masses started to disperse, a man stepped forward to him, talking with a deep, slow voice.

"Draco Malfoy?"

He was tall, had dark skin and was big and broad shouldered. He was bald, had a blue hat with a matching blue robe, and a gold hoop earring. Draco thought that under different circumstances, he would be really terrified by this man. But something made him trust him.

"Yes."

"I am Kingsley Shacklebolt, and I am here on Dumbledore's order to safely transport you."

With that statement, Draco got even more annoyed by the tiny amount of information he's been given so far. Where's he going to be transported? Why was it all so hush-hush? Why couldn't they simply tell him?

His annoyance became visible in his face when he followed Kingsley out the station. The muggles didn't usually notice him, or any other witch or wizard, here at King's Cross, but this time he did get noticed. It must've been the combination of the two males and their appearance, a slender boy with platinum blonde hair and bangs and a black suit, and at his side a big, black, bald man with a cloak flowing behind him in the wind like blue wings.

Kingsley crossed the parking lot, whispering a few charms as he went, with Draco next to him, who couldn't help but feel undignified and put aside like a little child. His grey eyes darted across the parking lot, wondering if they were actually going to go in a muggle car.

But then he saw that they weren't. A few meters ahead, there stood a black horse carriage, but there weren't any horses pulling it, like the carriages at Hogwarts.

"Don't worry about the muggles noticing you." Kingsley said. "Hop in."

With a frown, he did as told. Kinglsey himself sat in the driver's seat, and with a sudden pull, they flew up to the sky.

Draco had his eyes fixed to the ground until he couldn't see the cars moving on the streets anymore, the building's roofs grew flatter, and everything turning into a distant daze. He leaned back when he felt that they weren't moving upwards anymore, instead moving forward. He could disguingish the horizon far far away and the sun casting a warm light at the vegetation underneath, until the clouds started to shade his view. It felt relaxing.

It took them a few hours to travel. When they were getting close to the manor, Draco felt the sorrow hit him once more. Not only because the manor were empty, but because he just realized it was his now. He didn't want to have to take care of such great matters as a whole manor and its servants.

They landed on the backyard with a bump, scaring away the white peacocks who called out and fluttered with their wings. He felt his muscles stiffen, because this made everything much more real, the memories of this house and its former inhabitants washing over him with immense power.

"I'll wait here, take your time." Kinglsey said, making Draco turn his head suddenly. He nodded to him, brushed his suit and started walking across the lawn. The hedge and its shadows were looking grey, even though the sun was still shining. He came to the main entrance, and the door swung open for him.

He stepped inside, and felt the familiar, homey smell he was so used to. It smelled a bit like old perfume, mixed with the smell of wood and roasted meat. Suddenly, a tiny little house elf stood before him, looking up with big, shiny eyes. It looked like she's been crying, though happy to see Draco, and her cloth looked dirtier than ever.

"Welcome, master Draco. Do you want dinner?"

Those words hit him like a punch, even though it came from this pitiful creature. It was his mom and dad that were the masters in this house, not him. He couldn't help but dislike their house elves, creatures existing only to serve wizard and witches. But he didn't feel hungry, even though he hadn't eaten since breakfast, so he gave her a short no and a condescending look.

He walked past the little elf, and went trough the hallway. The portraits on the walls stared at him, and he stared back. The lamps in the wooden ceiling shone a soft light down on him, creating spots of light on the floor on which he stepped. The light made him look like the paintings on the walls, hair almost white and shining, and pitchblack at his knees and down. It also enhanced the shadows under his eyes and his chin. He walked past a few mirrors on his right, but didn't look into them.

Eventually, he came to a staircase. It was made out of black wood, and had a red carpet on it. The ornations on it were beautifully crafted, with flowers and branches, reaching and climbing along the handrail up to the next floor. As he walked up the stairs, a memory of his came to mind: It was of him, five years old, who had fallen and scratched his knees and elbows. He remembered how he searched up his mum who grabbed him and comforted him.

Before the staircase stood a drawer, and on the wall above it hung a beautiful mirror with a golden frame. Draco jumped at his own reflection, shocked by what he saw. He looked worse than he imagined, his hair was greasy and his facial skin wasn't as firm as it always was. He continued, turning right and then left, opening the door to his room. He closed it behind him and sat down at his bed.

The bed stood seated to the wall right to the door. He sat down at the foot of it and sighed. It felt all these emotions he had felt today only had emptied him, making him uncapable of feeling any more. But he didn't feel completely apathetic, because this room always gave him comfort.

He got out a trunk, and started packing. All the things he actually needed were already packed, but he had to take some things with him from home. That included a photo album, a few books and an ornamented golden box.

When everything was safe inside the metal trunk, he walked down the stairs, and made his way trough the hallway. The men and women on the walls kept following him with their blank gazes. The handcrafted carpet underneath him got a little wrinkled by the wheels of the trunk.

He reached the front door, and walked out of the manor. The gravel path crunched underneath his feet, and left two stripes from the trunk's wheels. He made a turn to the right, on his left a big lawn stretched out, and to his right there were bushes against the manor's walls. He made another right-turn, and saw the carriage, with Kingsley waiting, standing in the middle of the green sorrounding him and the black carriage. The sun had started to set, and the bright light made Draco squint.

Kingsley didn't say a word, but waited for Draco to get seated and then exhorted the carriage to fly up in the sky. They flew above the manor, and the towers were exactly underneath them. If they were to suddenly fall, they would possibly get pierced. If that didn't kill them, then the height would.

They were flying back to London. The landscape underneath them shifted from forests, open fields, rivers and mountains to villages, streets, then lights and traffic. Slowly, Kingsley began to move downwards to the ground, until the cars and trees and then people got visible, more and more details got apparent. They landed on a rubbishy street, with trash on it. There were no people around and it looked generally messy and untidy. It was a big contrast compared to Malfoy Manor.

"We are still invisible to the muggles, so don't worry about that." Kingsley said next to Draco, who just got out of the carriage together with his luggage.

It had gotten much darker than when they were at the manor. Kingsley said a few words, which Draco didn't understand, and he flickered his wand. Then the walls of the houses in front of them started moving. They were pressed aside, as well as lamp posts, metal fences and bushes. What came out between the walls was another house, identical to the ones at its sides. With a bam, the walls stopped moving, and Kingsley turned around to Draco who found himself staring. He flicked with his wand again and the luggage dissappeared.

"I moved them upstairs, so you wouldn't have to drag them all the way."

They took a few steps forward to the staircase that led them to the front door of the house. Draco felt his heart starting to beat faster the closer they got. He stood one footstep underneath Kingsley as he knocked on the well used door. In a few moments, it swung open, and before them stood a handsome man with long, wavy brown hair and a short beard. Draco immediately recognized him, who smiled brightly at Draco.

"Welcome Draco, I'm Sirius Black."


	3. Settling

"Welcome to Grimmauld Place 12." Sirius said, making a gesture towards the hall behind him.

Draco was staring at him. This was the man that escaped from Azkaban two years ago for killing 13 people. And he was going to live with him? For real?

He felt angry and shocked. Why would he live with a criminal? Why this man of all the people? He wanted to run away, to clench his fists and punch someone in the face.

Kingsley said good evening, turned around and got in the carriage, then flew away. Sirius moved out of the way for Draco to step inside.

The hallway was dimly lit by a large chandelier hanging in the ceiling, and on the walls there was several gas lamps. The wallpaper was peeling, and the carpet were worn thin. Ahead, there were a troll-leg, working as an umbrella stand. On the wall next to the troll-leg, there hung a portrait of an old witch.

"Ah." Sirius said when he noticed that Draco was looking at the portrait. "That's my mother. And this is the dining room"

Sirius led him into said room, which was to the left of the hall. It was rectangular, with an oblong wooden table in the centre. There were many different chairs around it, all of them standing around the table in a mess, like the people who were sitting there suddenly got in a hurry to get away from there.

Sirius showed him the kitchen, and then they went upstairs to the first floor. When they got to the drawing room, they stopped and went inside. On the greenish walls, there were branches reaching out, covering the room. On the branches, there were pictures of family members, which was looking like leaves.

Draco hadn't really said anything so far, but now he gasped, and Sirius turned his head to look at him.

"Yes?"

"Why is there a picture of me here?"

He pointed to one of the leaves. It was a tiny picture of him, with a text under which read _Draco Malfoy_.

"This family tree shows the House of Black." Sirius began. "There aren't many pure-bloods left nowadays, which makes almost every pure-blood-family in England related to each other somehow. The Malfoy family and the Black family are an example of that, though they're related in distance. Most purebloods have what I like to call pure-blood-mania, they are almost obsessed with the importance of being pure-blood. My mother, Walburga, and my father, Orion, were second cousins, and they married each other anyway, because they both were pure-bloods. I didn't share the same thoughts on the matter, and that's why the picture of me on the wall were burned off" he explained, and pointed to the other side of the wall, where there was a hole.

His father had told Draco about pure-blooded families when he was younger, but he wasn't told this much. According to this tree, he was related to Remus Lupin, the werewolf Defence against the Dark arts-teacher he had last year, the Potter family, and even the Weasley family.

He couldn't believe he never knew about this before, nor that noone ever told him. Maybe his parents were ashamed, or something along the lines.

Draco walked around the room, taking his time to look at all the branches and its leaves. Some of these people he recognized. Sirius was looking at him with his hands folded behind his back. When Draco was done looking he turned to Sirius, and they walked out of the room and he went to show Draco the other floors.

In the stairs on the way to the third floor, Sirius turned to Draco and said:

"I haven't told you this yet, but there's a hippogriff in the master bedroom. His name is Buckbeak."

Draco felt like he was sucked into a black hole. That was the same hippogriff that attacked him in third grade.

This all was a bit too much. But he had to keep it up, since he didn't have a choice. But having a big hippogriff in one's house is insane alone, but one that had been sentenced to death, and that he himself knew about? He sighed deeply.

They walked the last few steps to the bedroom, Draco slightly behind Sirius, and then Sirius opened the door.

His eyes were glistening, and he looked really excited. But when they stepped inside, they saw that Buckbeak was sleeping. Sirius's happiness turned into dissappointment, like that of a dog.

"Well, we'll just visit him later. You're gonna love him." he smiled to Draco. He didn't tell him that he hated the damn thing.

After the tour had been finished, the two sat in the kitchen eating soup and bread for dinner.

"Okay Draco, I'm sure there's a lot you would like to know. And I don't blame you, I mean, I would be skeptical too!" Sirius laughed, trying to get some kind of reaction from the boy opposite to him. Draco just looked up from his bowl at him.

"Yeah, there's a lot I want to know." he stated, not with the enthusiasm Sirius hoped he would show. But he continued anyway.

"Yes, of course. As you most possibly know, I sat in Azkaban from the years 1981 to 1993..."

He told Draco everything. Draco sat listening, and he was so concentrated he even forgot to finish his meal, which grew colder and colder with every word Sirius spoke. It didn't really matter, Draco still wasn't that hungry.

When Sirius finished, it was dark outside, and Draco didn't really know what to say as a response. Everything he wanted to say sounded ridiculous in his head.

He felt overwhelmed by what the suit-clad man had said, and though he didn't trust Sirius yet, he couldn't deny that he understood him for what he had done, or what he hadn't done, though to some extent.

Sirius had told him about his inprisonment, and why he was put in Azkaban, what his family was like, why he lived here - everything but the Order. He thought that he would wait for Dumbledore to say it was okay to tell Draco about it first. Also, he had given Draco enough things to think about already. He saw on Draco's face that he'd been trough so much lately that he looked weary and tired, and much so for a fifteen-year-old. He had greyish circles under his eyes, which darted across the room nervously. He had been doing that the whole evening, like he was scared some monster would pop out of the walls all of a sudden. Sirius knew terrible things about the Malfoy family, but seeing the Malfoy son like this made him feel sorry for him. Even though his parents were assholes, Draco didn't have to go trough all of this.

When Dumbledore told Sirius about this whole situation, he didn't want to take Draco in at first. But Dumbledore convinced him that even though Draco's the son of a Death Eater, he's a person too. He told Sirius that he had to drop that attitude of his, to instinctively choose sides, and that it would only cause pain in the future. The past was the past, and he had to let go of it sooner or later.

Later Draco went to bed. The bedroom he was sleeping in was on the third floor. The house was completely quiet, and he could even hear his heart beating.

His bedroom was much smaller than his old at the manor, but everything here was much smaller than at the manor. He might've been spoiled, but for him, the manor was still home and he had grown up there. He tried to think that at least it couldn't be much worse than this. The thought didn't comfort him at all.

He closed his eyes, and his lightly coloured eyelashes rested against his skin. He tried to relax, but he did not like this place at all, and it was hard to ease up. The house smelled wierd, and it simply didn't feel a bit as home.

On the wooden desk a few metres from his bed, his eagle owl called out. Draco wanted to release her because she seemed bored, even though she haven't been here for that long time. But he didn't know if he was allowed to open the window or anything, since Sirius was still hiding.

He went trough all the things that had happened today in his head. He'd gone with the Hogwarts train from the school, went with a guy named Kingsley to his house packing some extra things, and gotten here, at Grimmauld Place 12, and was now living with a man on the run.

It was too much. He didn't want to be here. He wanted to be somewhere else, but not here. Only today, there's been so much happening, so many things to take in, so many secrets told.

He cried quietly. At first a few tears, but then they started to stream down his reddened cheeks. _He didn't want to be here._


	4. Kreacher and Buckbeak

_Hi guys! It's been some time since my last chapter, but here's the fourth of my story After losing everything. It took a while to write because school and social life is keeping me way too busy, but don't worry about me forgetting this story or something! I have a lot of ideas, and I promise you I'll finish it, it might just take some time. I hope you'll all enjoy._

The next day, Draco woke up in his battered room on the third floor in Grimmauld Place 12 by a soft light shining trough his window, making the otherwise grey and brown room look a bit more colourful. He gently placed his cold feet on the wooden floor and glanced at his eagle owl, and saw that she still was asleep.

He wondered what time it was but there was no clock in the room, but then he remembered he put his silver watch on the desk. He walked to it and picked the watch up. It was a quarter past seven. He turned around and started digging trough the nearest one of his trunks - his school trunk - for some clothes. He got out a grey V-ringed t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and started to dress and put the watch on. It was early, and the thought of going downstairs to the dining room disappeared as fast as it came.

He sat down on the bed again. He really just wanted to crawl down in it again and sleep all day, but didn't. He knew he had to keep himself busy, or he would get really depressed. Though there weren't that many things that he could do to pass the time. He looked on the two massive trunks on the floor, one opened and one closed, and decided to unpack them.

In the opened one, the one he brought to Hogwarts, laid clothes, books, a cauldron and other school equipment neatly. On the wall opposite to the one with the desk, there stood a wardrobe. He looked trough the trunk, and found his Slytherin outfit which he hung over his arm and took with him to the wardrobe. It was a big wardrobe, and alike every other furniture in the house, it was made out of some kind of dark wood. There hung no racks inside, so he folded the outfit and laid it properly on the shelf inside. He walked back to the trunk and put the rest of his clothes into the wardrobe as well. When the trunk was empty of clothes, he started cleaning it out of school equipment. An expensive crystal vial were placed on the desk, a cauldron were placed next to the door and the books were piled in a drawer in the desk.

While cleaning, he started to browse trough the books he brought in the school trunk, and a note fell out of his history book. He smiled to himself when he read it, folded it and put it in his pocket.

It was 8 a.m. when he heard a knock on the door. He jumped of surprise because he was so concentrated on what he was doing. When he went to open the door there stood a short house elf outside on the doorsill looking up at him. Its back was slightly arched, had a long pointed nose and it was quite mean looking. Like every other house elf, it was dirty and wore a cloth. It was something about the creature that made Draco wonder what colour the cloths that house elves wore was when they were clean.

"Draco, sir, master Sirius is waiting in the dining room for you." He said with a bow and turned around to`slowly trail down the stairs.

Draco sighed, went back inside his room and shuffled around a bit, fixing this and that, before walking downstairs as well.

On the way down he looked at the house elves's heads that were hanging above the staircase. They looked really grotesque, with all their features being shrunken. He also noticed things that he didn't notice yesterday when he was given the tour around the house by Sirius. He noticed marks of claws on the walls, like some carnivore had gone berserk underneath the obscure light, a bouquet of dried sunflowers that hung from the ceiling in one of the corners of the walls, and that the banisters had the same kind of ornation of flowers as the stairs in the Malfoy manor had.

He passed the portrait of the old woman and the troll leg on his way to the dining room where Sirius sat reading The Daily Prophet at the far end of the table. He looked really focused on the paper until he heard Draco enter the room and looked up, and his face softened when he saw the platinum blonde figure.

"Good morning." He said as Draco sat down opposite to him. Sirius leaned forward and said "I hope Kreacher didn't cause you any trouble."

"Kreacher is his name, huh." Draco answered. "He looked really nasty."

Sirius laughed.

"Well, I can't really blame you for saying that. But I'm surprised, he's usually so reluctant when serving the guests here, at least now when I own the house. And the portrait of Walburga doesn't scream in your presence." The last part he said mostly to himself.

Draco was really confused, but didn't care to ask.

"Was there anything special you wanted? Since it came to get me, I mean." Draco said.

"Hm? Yes, breakfast is on the way. I thought you'd like to eat."

Kreacher came into the dining room from the kitchen, holding two bowls, both filled with steaming soup. He put the bowls down in front of Draco and Sirius, then quickly scurried back into the kitchen to get some vegetables and drinks.

After the breakfast, Sirius got up with a smile.

"Come, I think we'll visit Buckbeak now."

Draco put down the spoon in the bowl and followed him. Sirius told Draco to wait outside the door to the kitchen, then quickly went in and came out with a rusty silver-bucket of dead ferrets. Draco was really disgusted by the lifeless bodies that swayed like ragdolls.

Sirius noticed this, but just nodded at Draco to follow him upstairs. The steps creaked underneath them as they walked upwards.

When they got to the third floor, they walked past a corridor with bedrooms on both sides with paintings of old family members on the walls. It wasn't very bright there because there were almost no lamps, except for three gas lamps on the walls. Draco's room had a lamp next to it, making the door look warm and welcoming to step inside. The master bedroom were Buckbeak was staying was at the far end of the corridor. All the other doors were looking like something with claws had been scratching on them compared to this one, which looked glossy and new. There were two candles on both sides of the door, but none of them were lit.

The door was locked, and Sirius put the bucket down on the floor to search his vest pockets for his wand. He got it up, 15 inches long, pointed it to the keyhole and locked the door up. Before opening it, he put the wand back inside his pocket and turned with an excited look to Draco, the same look as yesterday when they went to visit Buckbeak only to find that he was asleep.

"I don't know if you've met a hippogriff before, but you should really know this: they are very proud, so you have to bow to them before walking up to them."

Draco snorted, but Sirius ignored it and continued.

"If they bow back, they accept you, but if they don't, you have to move away. It's ok with Buckbeak though, I know him very well, he's nice."

Draco didn't want to tell him that yes, he's met the beast before, and that he absolutely didn't want to step inside the door. But it felt really futile to not do as told, that he didn't say anything and went along with whatever Sirius had planned.

Sirius opened the door, and made a quick bow which was answered as quickly and let Draco in. Buckbeak must've heard them outside, because he was standing straight to the door, with every muscle stretched. He was part horse, part bird, and his grey fur and feathers was reflecting the yellowish light from outside and the grey from the walls inside. He was big, and his wings looked enormous even when they were folded. His beak clattered with excitement.

Every furniture that used to stand in the master bedroom was removed, and you could see where they've been standing, because there the walls and floor were darker than everywhere else. There obviously had been a carpet inside, but that had been removed as well. Basically, there were nothing inside, except the hippogriff who was standing proud in the middle of the room.

Draco got in, and noticed how much the animal had changed since he last saw him in class. He was indeed much bigger.

Draco stood beside Sirius and bowed slowly, with his eyes focused right into the hippogriff's. He didn't care if Buckbeak was provoked by this like dogs were, no, he rather wanted to anger him.

Sirius was watching by Draco's side with nervousness, not expecting anything from either one of them.

The staring didn't provoke Buckbeak, rather the opposite, but he really hesitated before he bowed back. Draco was stunned, he didn't think that Buckbeak would accept him since class third year, but then he remembered that it was just an animal and probably wouldn't remember him anyway.

Sirius threw him a ferret, which Buckbeak very enthusiastically accepted. He caught it in his mouth, tossed it to the ground, and ripped it apart with his forefeet, then swallowed big chunks of it without chewing. When he had eaten the whole thing, he looked to Sirius and made a sound, asking for more. Sirius laughed and shook his head, put the bucket down and waved Draco to come forward with him to greet the magnificent creature.

"You can pat him if you'd like, he really enjoys that."

No, Draco did not want to pat the thing, so he just stood behind Sirius as he murmured things to Buckbeak which Draco couldn't hear and patted him across his slender neck.

Sirius wanted to start a conversation with Draco, but he didn't come up with anything to say. He didn't want to talk about former experiences, his weren't really that great. So they ended up standing there, without saying a word.

Draco studied the animal, and its anatomy. It was wierd that it even existed, but so did goblins, merpeople and unicorns too. But even though it was a magical animal, it was wierd. He looked at how it moved, and tried to figure out what part of the skeleton were where. He quickly came to a conclusion, and the creature made more sense to him now, but still not entirely.

After a while of silence, Sirius went back to the bucket and threw Buckbeak the three remaining ferrets, which he gladly ate.

They walked out the room, Sirius in front of Draco. Before he walked out the door, Draco looked back inside and gave Buckbeak an angry stare.

Sirius took out his wand, pointed it to the door and locked it.

"We weren't in there for that long, but what did you think? Did you like him? He's great company." Sirius asked.

Draco fidgeted.

"No." He eventually answered.

"_No_? Why?" Sirius asked, and he looked really disappointed.

"I... just don't like animals, okay? They're scaring me. And this... _Buckbeak _was really big."

"Yeah, I see what you mean." Sirius said and gave him a pat on his shoulder. Then he walked downstairs to the kitchen to leave the bucket, which wasn't, surprisingly, filled with blood, just bits of fur and some other clear corporal liquid.

Draco did as much as he could to pass the time that day. He read his books, looked trough his photo albums and whatnot, but stayed in his room all the time. When it was dinner time, at 6 p.m., he went down to the dining room and once again found Sirius already sitting in his seat. Kreacher came in with the meal, a delicious meal with meat, potatoes, all kinds of fresh vegetables and gravy. Sirius was really hungry and dug in, but Draco didn't.

Halfway trough the meal, Sirius looked up with Draco with a serious look on his face, though his playfulness wasn't really gone.

"How are you?" He asked.

The tone of the question made Draco look up. He didn't sound mad, nor was sad or disappointed, it was just a tone that suggested Sirius thought this was important matter.

Draco didn't really know what to answer. He had accepted that he had to be here, though he still didn't want to. He missed his friends, even though it's only been two days, and wanted to go outside really badly, or at least let his owl out, because she didn't have to be bored too. But most of all, it was the blackness that was sorrounding him all the time that was the worst. The thought of his parents gone seemed so surreal and unbelievable.

"I'm adjusting." He said. It was no use in lying, Sirius wouldn't believe him, he was clever enough to figure out that wasn't the case. But he didn't want to entirely tell him the truth either.

"Yeah, I can understand that. But you know, you have all the right to be sad. I can also understand if you don't want to talk about it with me, but I'm here for you. Also, there's someting else I'd like to talk to you about. It's why I haven't given you permission to go outside yet."

This made Draco listen carefully.

"As you know, I'm wanted, and you also know that this house is hidden except for those I show it to. That means that the people who're searching for me can't find me when I'm in here. And neither can the muggles, of course. And, this I haven't been given permission by Dumbledore to tell you yet, but I really think you should know. You know the night when Lord Voldemort came back, and murdered your parents? Well, he was going for you too. The problem that the Death Eaters faced were that they couldn't get to you, because when they got after you, you were inside the castles of Hogwarts, safe with the other students. But they are still looking for you."

Draco was shocked by everything he heard. Sirius sighed, and continued.

"Well, in here they will not find you. You are safe. The only way they'd be able to get inside this house is by me telling them where it is, otherwise it would be impossible. That is why I don't want you to go outside just yet, because there they can get you. I'll try to contact Dumbledore and see what he thinks about the matter, because I don't think you'll have to spend your days here indoors. But you can let your owl out though. And it's no worry about opening windows, they are still invisible to the people outdoors."

Draco slowly nodded, and with that out in the open they both finished their meals.


	5. The area around Grimmauld Place

_Thanks guys for all your support and feedback! It really does mean a lot to me. Also, your reviews helps me write, so keep them coming, even if it's a complain of some sort. Many of you have also been telling me that you're eager for the coming chapters, and I can tell you that I've made a promise to myself to write one chapter a week, which is good because I think it makes the story more coherent. But that's the only question I'll answer regarding the story, just for the sake of suspense. Now, enjoy my darlings._

The days passed slowly. Draco tried to entertain himself as good as possible. Sirius spent most of his days with Buckbeak, so Draco didn't see him that much. He walked around the house, looked at the books (there weren't that many, most of the artefacts in the house was strange things like vials contained with what seemed to be blood, animal skulls and so on), but it still wasn't much that happened. One thing was for sure though, and that was that however bored he got, he wouldn't visit the damn hippogriff.

About three days ago, Sirius told him he could let his eagle owl out, so he let her out of the window in his room, which she was really happy about. When she returned, she proudly held a letter in her beak.

Draco took the yellowish letter out of the beak and looked at it. It had _Draco Malfoy _written on it. The handwriting suggested it was Pansy. He opened the letter and read it.

_Hi Draco._

_I hope that you're OK, wherever you are. I wish I was with you, but unfortunately I can't be. Here, I'm bored most of the time with little to do. Mum and dad is away travelling, they said that they'll be home on thursday, but I don't think that they will._

_There really isn't that much else to say, but I hope that you'll respond._

_Pansy_

The letter lit a warm light inside Draco. Even though it was short he was happy about it, because he really seldom got letters.

He wondered if he'd be able to answer, if that might risk the safety for both Sirius and himself. But he got to the conclusion that no, it wouldn't, since the letter couldn't be traced here, the house was protected by a Fidelius charm. Only a secret-keeper could reveal this place to someone.

So he turned around to his desk to start writing. He opened the top drawer and got out ink, a piece of parchment and a feather pen. He dipped the feather in the ink, and thought for a moment. Then he started writing.

_Hi Pansy._

_Sadly I can't tell you where I am or anything like that, but I highly doubt that this letter will reveal my whereabouts anyway._

_That doesn't sound good, but you know what I think about them. Who needs them? You are pretty fine on your own, I can imagine._

_Well, I'm OK. I have to stay indoors, but since I've been allowed to let my owl out, I might get permission to step outside soon too. We live in a muggle-district, but the house is magically protected, so they can't find it. Also, it's dusty everywhere here, but I can't really figure out why. It's a really wierd house, so are the people and things living here._

_Draco_

He read it and thought that that would do good. He took out an envelope the same colour as the parchment out of the drawer, put the letter inside, wrote _Pansy Parkinson_ on it and gave the letter to his owl who started flapping her wings, eager to deliver it. Draco opened the window, and she was soon gone, disappearing into the clouds above.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly, casting rough shadows on the ground. There weren't many people to be seen. Actually, the block was nearly empty.

He closed the window and locked it. His grey eyes searched around the room, trying to find something to do next. But the room didn't offer anything of entertaining value, so he brushed some possible dust off his cardigan and stepped into the corridor outside. He looked at his left and saw that the door into the master bedroom was open, with Sirius inside kneeled down before a sleeping Buckbeak. He looked really deep in thoughts. Then he turned his head to Draco and jumped out of surprise. Draco stood where he was, fidgeting. Sirius got up and walked to him.

"Hi Draco."

"Hi."

"Good thing I can talk to you. I spoke to Dumbledore, and he gave me permission to let you go outside, but only today. If I could, I would've showed you around, but sadly I'm stuck in here." Sirius smiled, with his gentle grey eyes glistening from the gas lamps on the walls.

Draco subconsciounsly raised his eyebrows a bit.

"Good, thank you."

"No problem. Also, we'll have company later, there'll be something we'll have to discuss then."

Draco felt at first angry. Why didn't they tell him right away? But then he felt sad. Sad, because he didn't choose this. He didn't want to have this constant darkness around him, things that weren't told, and everything new, it was all too much. He felt the tears build in his eyes.

"Okay, I'll go get my jacket now." He said, turned around and went into his room. But he wasn't going back there to get his jacket, it was too warm outside to wear one. Sirius returned to sit by Buckbeak's side, who was now awake and had been listening to them talking.

Draco shut the door and sat down on the bed. Tears started slowly and quietly roll down his face, and he wiped them away with the back of his hand. He felt really immature, but he still cried. He cried until he felt clean of emotions, and ready to face whatever things lies ahead of him. He wiped his face once more with his arm, and tried to relax his facial muscles, and took a deep breath. He was probably red and swollen, but it's not like anyone would notice anyway.

He got up from the bed, walked out of the room and down the stairs.

He got into the hallway, passed the troll leg and the portrait of Walburga, which was now concealed with a curtain. He stretched out his arm to open the front door and stepped outside, and the warmth from hit him.

The area looked even more trashy in the daylight. Garbage was thrown on the street and the trees looked old and weary. The houses were dirty with what looked like some kind of fluid that had streamed down the walls from the roof. Draco wondered where the muggles were. Probably at work, or something.

He looked around a bit. The block was square, with houses like Grimmauld Place forming it, with a little park in the middle. He walked across the street, which some cracks had opened up on and where cars were parked along the kerbs on both it's sides. Draco thought the cars looked really silly and way too complicated than necessary. How many functions were there on a car anyway? Too many than needed, probably.

He walked between a red and a silver-coloured car, and opened the black metal-gate to the park. A tiny breeze ruffled his thin, straight hair, and he looked up to see where it came from. He saw that there was a long parkway going trough the park like a line, and it was lined with trees, which made the park look darker then it was because of the shadows. When he walked, it scrunched underneath his feet from the gravel that was sprinkled on the ground. The park weren't that big, and there were a few trash cans here and there, but there were still trash on the ground.

He walked trough the park, and very soon reached the exit. He opened the exit-gate and walked out, where the sunlight was much brighter.

Here, at the other side of the block, the houses looked much like Grimmauld Place, there were only a few changes to the architecture. On the other side of the street where Draco was standing there was a woman who was walking with her four-year-old son while holding his hand. They were apparently heading home, because as he watched her, she walked up to one of the houses, opened the door and got in.

In the harsh daylight, Draco's black spots under his eyes were more visible. It was also much more noticeable how much weight he'd lost the past weeks. He almost looked a bit sick.

He walked around the block, circling around the much-alike houses, paying attention to what houses were where, how they looked, which streets went where and so on. That was the only thing he could entertain himself with, the area wasn't that full of exciting things, as empty and tiny as it was. But still, he'd never been to a muggle-district like this before, and it was a completely new experience. After he'd walked around for a while, he started sweating from the heat. He looked at his watch, and got surprised - he'd been out for almost an hour, because it was now 4 p.m.

He figured he had now seen everything that could be seen, so he walked back to Grimmauld Place, walking along the park's black metal fences. He took long steps, and glanced at the park, which from outside looked like nothing but a tiny forest with fences around it.

He walked across the street, and arrived in front of Grimmauld Place. He stared at the building in front of him. Then he whispered to himself _Grimmauld Place 12, I am Draco Malfoy, and I wish to enter, _and flicked his wand.

He took a step back. Before him, a house was appearing between two others, Grimmauld Place 11 and 13, which was pressed aside. Windows popped out of this new house, a balcony and door appeared, and there it was, Grimmauld Place 12. He had to admit, it was quite spectacular to watch the house transform in front of him. He walked up to the big, wooden front door and stepped inside. The hallway seemed much darker than usual because of the contrast of the dim light in there and the strong sunshine outside.

Sirius heard Draco come, so he got out of his seat and went to greet him.

"Come with me. Our guest is here." He said.

Draco followed him into the dining room, and looked at the table which was placed in the centre of the room, and the man sitting there.

"Good day Draco." Dumbledore said from his seat in the table.


	6. Meet the power

_Okay, this chapter was really hard to write, but I hope you'll find it pleasant to read anyway. As always, I highly appreciate your comments, and I'd like to thank you for them. If you have any thoughts or ideas, feel free to share them! Now, enjoy._

_ Edit: I changed a few things in the dialogue, I hope it's better now._

"Good day Draco." Dumbledore said smoothly from his seat at the dinner table.

Sirius pulled out a chair opposite to Dumbledore and sat down. He nodded at Draco to join them. Draco hesitated a bit before pulling out a scratched chair, and sat down next to Sirius.

"Yes, you might be wondering what I am doing here." Dumbledore began and leant forward, with his hands clasped on the table. "There's a few things I'd like to discuss with you. First of all, I know that you've been informed that this house is protected by a Fidelius charm, and every Fidelius charm needs a secret-keeper. This charm works so that it protects a specific piece of information, and plants that information into the secret-keeper's soul. When the secret-keeper tells someone about this secret they're keeping, that person is bid to the charm as well, and can't tell anyone else about it. In this case, the location of Grimmauld Place 12, that secret-keeper happens to be me."

Draco was confused, but unnoticeably. He had thought that Sirius was the secret-keeper.

"No, Sirius isn't the secret-keeper, but I can understand it if you might've thought that." Dumbledore said, looking into Draco's eyes. Draco felt like the man was staring into his soul. "He was at first, though. I am the keeper now because this house has become headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. The Order of the Phoenix is an order that was formed during the last time Voldemort and his Death eaters were active, in order to stop him, and I was the founder." He let the words sink in.

Sirius had been looking at Dumbledore with his arms folded, leant back in his chair, but now he turned his head to look at Draco to see his reaction. When Dumbledore spoke up again, Sirius turned his head back to look at him.

"When we won that war, the order disbanded. But now, as we have proof that Voldemort's back, we're informing our former members and are beginning to assemble."

Draco was quiet. Then he asked if there was any other proof than the murdering of his parents.

Dumbledore smiled.

"The things that happened the last time is happening once again." Sirius said, and Draco turned his head to look at him. "Disappearings, murderings of muggles, all of that is exactly what happened before the last war. We have also been seeing things lately that's proved to us that Voldemort is trying to make his way back. But we fear, that not only is he coming back, but that he's becoming much stronger this time than the last. He's recruiting - both witches and wizards and magical creatures, and possibly like last time werewolves and giants too. They even used inferi in battle back then." Sirius had a stern look on his face as he described everything the best he could. "Which is why, it's crucial that the Order must start working against him as soon as possible."

Draco was listening carefully.

"And we need to meet up, the Order. This is the Order's headquarters, as I said, but we haven't had a proper meeting yet. And that's why I'm here, to discuss when we can have our next meeting." Dumbledore calmly said.

"Well, what's stopping you?" Draco asked.

"Actually,, because I decided that we should wait to have a meeting before you got settled here, it's you. But since it's been a little over a week now, I think we can tell our members to gather here, because we have to hurry. But I still have to ask you for permission. Bringing the Order here would mean that some of the members would live here for a week or so."

Draco thought for a bit, because it seemed that both Sirius and Dumbledore wanted an answer from him, since they were looking at him both very encouragingly.

"I'm not really one to decide such a thing, but why not? You can have your meetings here."

Sirius looked really pleased.

"Great! What we'll have to do now is inform and gather our members, but we have to decide a date. Probably something next week, but we don't know. But when we do, I'll tell you, of course." He said and looked at Draco. "That was all we wanted, if you want, you can go now."

Draco got out of his chair and nodded at the two men before walking out of the dining room.

Inside the dining room, the conversation kept going between Sirius and Dumbledore.

"How has it been this last week with Draco? How's he dealing with everything?" Dumbledore asked Sirius.

"I don't really know." Sirius shrugged. "He's not talking that much, so I don't know what's going on inside his head. He spends most of his days inside his room. I can understand him though, but it's just that I'd like to hear something from him, anything. He's been really quiet."

"Well, as you said, it's understandable. I'd probably be that way too if I'd be in his shoes. But how are you feeling then?"

"I first had some real doubts, I mean, bringing in the son of two Death Eaters to the Order's headquarters, just the thought of it is crazy. But, he himself isn't a Death Eater, and I realize now I was prejudiced. But also, it's good to have some other company than Buckbeak around here." A smile hinted on Sirius' lips. "But I'm just hoping I'm doing everything right."

"I knew you'd make the right decision Sirius. He's just a boy. You're a good man, you're doing nothing wrong." Dumbledore consoled him.

"Yeah well, I just want to do _something,_ he seems so depressed."

"You just have to wait. But now I have to go." Dumbledore looked at his pocket watch and got out of his chair. Sirius followed him and walked him to the door.

"We'll have to discuss this again tomorrow Sirius. Now then, goodbye."

"Goodbye." When Dumbledore closed the door behind him, Sirius turned around with a heavy sigh.

When he got up to his room, Draco started to panic. He had just accepted bringing the Order of the Phoenix into the house. He had no idea how many members there were, or who they were. Maybe they would hate him for being a Malfoy, or something of the sort. But he calmed himself down by thinking that he had to visit an actual meeting before getting prejudiced. Maybe they all just were stupid, thinking about what they were trying to do.

He sighed and sat down on his bed, staring into the air in front of him, with thoughts whirling inside his head. He laid down on the bed, and tried to straighten out the thoughts, but it was impossible. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander.


	7. Letters and postcards

_This chapter took really long time to write, I know. It's because, for one, I was travelling. But here it is. I had a real lack of inspiration, so I asked my friend youngskywalker for help, and it was her idea to include a photo album. By the way, she's turning 16 today, so wish her a happy birthday!_

June was nearing its end, and Dumbledore came to visit Grimmauld Place 12 frequently the following week. He sat down with Sirius over cups of tea in the dining room and discussed the Order's slow progress, and Sirius redirected pieces of the information to Draco.

The Order kept Sirius quite busy, organizing and contacting the members. Draco on the other hand didn't send nor receive letters to Pansy anymore. None of them had anything interesting to tell each other anymore. Draco wanted to tell her about the Order, but knew it was not possible, because it was classified information. It felt weird, to not tell his friend what was going on. Often when he was thinking about these kinds of things it all became too much for him, so he put it aside and slept. He was becoming more and more tired, but not the sleepy kind of tired. He didn't sleep well at night, and was dreaming nightmares of his parents. But still he only wanted to lie in his bed all day.

Opposite to Draco, Sirius seemed to have regained a lot more energy from working with the Order, like some new exciting thing in his life was finally happening. The energy from Sirius was transferred to Buckbeak, whom Sirius still spent a lot of time with.

One day after a quiet breakfast, when Draco was resting in his room, Sirius came knocking on his door. He had found a book downstairs that he wanted to give to Draco. He figured Draco would have more use of it than he did.

"Draco, I'm sorry it hasn't been that great staying here. It's just that I can't go outside, I have to stay here. I'd love to show you around, or do something, but right now it's not possible.

Draco nodded, and Sirius continued.

"I brought something with me. I found this, I think it might be of interest to you."

Sirius took a few steps into the room and handed Draco the book. He stretched out his arms and accepted it. He held it gently in his hands, stroking the cover by habit, and looked up at Sirius who in the corners of his eyes moved.

"I'll be downstairs." Sirius said, and left the room. The stairs loudly creaked when he walked, and even though Draco couldn't see him, he could hear him walking down the stairs.

He looked down at the book again, and his platinum blonde hair fell down and covered his forehead. The book was made out of brown torn leather, with details on the front in black. It were looking like six black ravens, circling around a big black tree with a brown background. The crown was filled with leaves, and its trunk was thick. The leather was bleached at the edges and the binding. It looked like a really old book that had been used several times. Draco opened it, and saw that it was a photo album. The photos looked like they had been newly put there, because they looked much newer than the book itself.

Draco studied the photo on the first page carefully. It was a photo of two young women, one with blonde hair, and one with black. It looked like they were having fun. The woman with black hair had high cheekbones, and round deer-like eyes. The woman with blonde hair looked more like a classic beauty, with luscious lips and perfect eyebrows. In the picture, the woman with black hair had her arm wrapped around the other one's shoulder, and they were looking at each other before turning to the camera laughing. They both looked like they were around the age of 17. Draco studied them, and then his heart started beating faster. He saw that it was a picture of Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, his mom and his aunt. He looked closer. It was definitely them. There was some text written underneath the photo, but it was unreadable. He turned the page, and saw that on the other page there was a photograph of another woman, this one a bit younger, maybe around the age of 14. She had brown, slightly curly hair, but had the same fair skin colour as the other two women. She looked a bit awkward on the photo, shifting and looking down to the ground. Draco figured that the woman had to be Andromeda, Bellatrix' and Narcissa's sister, though he had never met her before. His parents rarely spoke of her, if not never. Seeing here in a photograph, he wished he could meet her someday.

He continued looking trough the book. Every page was filled with photographs of varying size that portrayed the three sisters, not older than 20 years. They looked comfortable together. In some photos they were at home, in some they were doing something together or simply by themselves, and a few pictures showed them, proud, in their Slytherin robes. The first photo of them with their robes on was a picture with the oldest sister Bellatrix standing on the left, Andromeda in the middle and the youngest sister Narcissa on the right. They were standing in front of a wallpapered wall, holding each other's hands. Narcissa looked the most excited, and Andromeda was smiling a big smile, and shared the excited look on her face with her little sister. Bellatrix' eyes were shining, and her black hair was twisted. She didn't smile though, but she looked equally happy.

There were sometimes people in the backgrounds of the photos, sometimes with their backs turned to the camera, or talking to someone who wasn't visible in the photo. It was always the same people that appeared there. Draco knew that he had a very small family, since there aren't that many purebloods left anymore. Now that he actually thought about it, he had only met very few of his relatives.

Before knowing it, he was at the end of the book. He was so deep in thoughts that he hadn't noticed that he had just turned the last page. He became very disappointed, because he wished there had been more photos. But as he closed the book and looked at the binding he saw how thick it was, and changed his mind and was happy there were that many pages filled instead.

He looked trough it again, now paying more attention to the details in the pictures. He was overwhelmed. His mom was so beautiful, and she looked very happy. All the sisters did, but his mother shone the brightest. Looking trough the book strangely gave him energy, so the second time he closed it, he got up from the bed and started walking downstairs with the thick leather book in his hand, going to return it to Sirius. He walked down the first staircase which led him to the second floor, but he wasn't there. He went down to the first floor looking for him there, and found him sitting in the drawing room. Sirius was sitting at a desk, writing a letter. When he heard Draco coming in, he turned around in his chair to face him.

"I just came in to return this to you." Draco said, handing the book to Sirius, who shook his head.

"No, I want you to keep it. I think you'll find it far more entertaining than I do."

Draco nodded.

"So, have you figured out who they are?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, mum, Bellatrix and Andromeda." Draco answered, and looked down at his feet. Sirius got up from his chair.

"You know, this was a gift to our family from Cygnus and Druella, your grandparents. They often came to visit us here when I was a child, but as I got older their visitations came more and more seldom. I don't really know why though. Andromeda was actually my favourite cousin. I didn't really get along with Bellatrix."

"My parents never spoke of Andromeda. Why?" Draco regretted asking almost at once. It felt like backstabbing his parents.

Sirius sighed.

"That's because Andromeda married a muggle-born. Her whole family disowned her after that. So you've never met her?"

Draco shook his head.

"Would you like to?" Sirius smiled.

Draco didn't see that question coming. Why was he asking that?

"I haven't really given it much thought." He snapped. Sirius blinked.

"Her daughter, Nymphadora, is a member of the Order. Andromeda is not, but she is a supporter. If you want to, I can invite her over."

"No, I don't want to meet her. There was a reason that no one ever spoke of her." He said, staring into Sirius' eyes.

The anger caught Sirius by surprise, who took a step back. As Draco turned around to go up the stairs, Sirius watched him. He was angry and wanted to yell at Draco, but he let it go this time. Right now, he wanted to concentrate on this letter.

Sirius sighed and sat down in the wooden chair, which had armrests and ornations on the side. It was made out of oak, and was matching the rest of the furniture in the room. He gently took out the quill from the inkwell standing to the left of the paper, and continued writing. When he was done, he folded the letter and put it in an envelope. On the front of the envelope he wrote _Albus Dumbledore_, put the quill back in the inkwell and got up from the desk. He walked out of the room and up the creaky stairs to the second floor, and came to a corridor lit by gas lamps with two doors on each wall, and opened the door which led to his room. The room was still as messy as ever - he had no use of cleaning it. This was working just fine for him.

From the ceiling, there hung a big bird cage in silver. In it sat a hawk owl, who woke by the sound of Sirius. It's big, yellow eyes were pointed directly at him, and the black stripes in its face enhanced its penetrating gaze. It screeched to greet him.

"Hi, I have something for you." He said. He opened the cage, and the owl walked out and sat on Sirius' arm, who gave it the letter. He then opened the window, and the owl stretched its soft wings and as quickly as quietly disappeared into the big grey clouds above with the letter in its beak.


	8. Transmission

The letter that Sirius sent to Dumbledore was very quickly answered by him, and that was the last letter Dumbledore would send to Sirius for some time. They had been changing letters to each other for a long time now, and this one told Sirius that the time had come to gather the members, bit by bit. Since Sirius didn't go outside, he did all the work from the drawing room, but Dumbledore was able to go and visit the members in person. What he talked about with said members was way too important and secret to send via owls, in case they'd be checked, which was one of the reasons why he went there himself. Dumbledore had now been to every single member, and had told Sirius that the Order was finally ready to assemble. Of course, he used code names for everything he wrote about, so that if the letter was being checked, only he and Sirius could understand what it meant.

That was what Sirius told Draco a few hours after he had been given the photo album. He had left out a couple of details, like when and were, but he wanted to tell Draco as much as possible.

They were sitting in the dining room. There was a clock that stood on a big, dusty chest, placed in the centre of the short side of the wall, opposite to the door. The clock tolled four times when the pointer hit the number four. The time had been 3.57 p.m. when they had sat down to talk. Sirius told Draco that what he had to tell him was of much importance.

"That means that the Weasley family, Remus Lupin and the aurors Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt will accompany us here in the headquarters tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

The shock in Draco's voice was clearly audible. He had to blink a few times before looking up at Sirius again. _Was he being serious?_

"Yes, I don't know exactly when, but sometime after breakfast. Why? Is something wrong?" He looked a bit closer at Draco.

"That's soon. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I just found out myself. I recieved Dumbledore's letter fifteen minutes ago."

Sirius tried to understand Draco, because his facial expression had completely changed. Draco looked like a mixture of scared, disgusted and annoyed.

Draco himself was trying to keep his breath steady. He was panicking, and felt like a prisoner in this mad house. And then he just felt weak, when his heart was starting to beat faster and his palms were beginning to sweat. Without noticing Sirius' concerned look, he stared into the table trying to straighten out his thoughts.

Then Sirius remembered something. _Well, of course._

"Draco, don't you know Remus and the Weasleys? I know that he used to teach at Hogwarts, and the Weasley kids go there."

Draco's eyes turned dark when Sirius mentioned Remus and the Weasleys. Yes, he sort of knew them.

"Well, I can't really say I _know_ them. Lupin teached for only a year and it's not like I associate with the Weasleys. And that is something you should keep in mind. Also, it's not like I want these people to be here, in the same house as me. I'd rather skip that." He sighed. "But since I really have no choice, is there anything I can do?"

"Of course it's not that easy to adjust to the opposite of what you were raised, and is used, to. But just remember that we're all people." Sirius paused, and his grey eyes were looking particularly dark in the soft light. "And no, as it is right now, there's nothing you can help with. There'll probably be a lot of stuff that has to be handled tomorrow though. I'll tell you if I'll need your help then. But I think that was all I wanted to tell you. I'm sad that there's no other way around it, since we really have to think of the bigger picture here."'

"Yes, of course." He snorted.

"But Draco, before you leave, I want to say I'm sorry for upsetting you earlier. I, of course, didn't mean to. And I'd really want you to feel better."

"I understand."

Draco said shortly, but inside he felt a bit warmer. Getting out of his chair, he walked with long steps out of the dining room. He heard Kreacher muttering to himself in the kitchen, but he didn't hear what he was mumbling. He turned to walk upstairs to the drawing room. The house elves' heads that was hanging on the wall above the staircase still disgusted Draco, and he really wondered who would have such a thing on their wall. He didn't feel sorry for them, but it was still heads hanging there.

He didn't really know why he wanted to go to the drawing room, only that he had wanted to look at the Black family tapestry again. He went into the room, walked to the middle of it and looked at the walls sorrounding him. The branches from the big family tree on the wall were reaching out, thick at some places where there were many leaves, meaning big families, but at some it was thin and dispairing. Some of the heads on the leaves were burned off. As Draco spun around, he saw more of those burnmarks than the first time Sirius showed him the room. But he didn't see the whole tapestry - some of it was hidden behind a fireplace or by a window.

Draco stood there for a bit, while Sirius was still sitting in the dining room, thinking. He had done that a lot lately, just sitting down to think. It made his everyday life that much more exciting. He was really excited for tomorrow morning, to see some familiar faces again, and most of all the face of his friend Remus Lupin, but he was still worried for what Draco had told him.

They both were where they were for some more time, making plans of their own, not seeing each other until supper. After supper, Sirius went to be with Buckbeak, and Draco was staring out the window. They both wanted to be alone, and they didn't talk to each other until morning the next day.


	9. The Order of the Phoenix arrives

_This chapter is late, I know. Last week was really busy, with two performances (both of them went great), two birthday celebrations, and one visit at the hospital (nothing too serious, it's my eye. I have a wound on it, but it's healing just fine). This week, well, it's christmas. I'll do my best to compensate this with two chapters next week, but until then, I wish you all a great, great holiday, whether you're celebrating or not._

The next day, a Wednesday, was a real busy day.

Both Draco and Sirius woke up early, around 6 a.m., and ate breakfast together in the dining room fifteen minutes later. This morning, breakfast was bread with different spreads. It was sometime ago since Draco ate this much. He was being stressed, and the chewing helped to cease it. Sirius ate the way he always did, but he didn't really seem his usual self. He had furrowed brows, and looked anxious.

At 9 a.m. they had finished eating and was cleaning the house a bit. No matter how much Sirius told him to, Kreacher didn't do that work. Then came a knock on the door. Both looked up, and Sirius went to open it. Outside stood aurors Kingsley Shacklebolt and Alastor Moody, the former looking rather pleased to have finally arrived, and the latter looking grumpy as usual. The clouds looked grey and heavy above them, and it looked like it was about to rain. Sirius welcomed them in, and told them to watch out for the troll leg that stood further down the hall. The muffled voices of the three men was overheard by Draco, but he couldn't hear the words they were saying.

Sirius was giving them a warm welcome, and directed them to the dining room. He asked if they would like a cup of tea, coffee, water, or something to eat, but the two aurors said thanks, but no thanks. Sirius' joy of seeing them was great. He led them back into the drawing room, and the two newly arrived men greeted Draco, both in their own ways. Sirius then told them about the house, and warned them about some parts of it, like walking into the master bedroom where Buckbeak was, Kreacher, behind the sofa in the drawing room and the curtains.

When the Weasley family arrived two hours later, Sirius showed them gladly around, and since they'd be living there during the summer, he showed them their rooms as well.

Remus Lupin arrived three hours later than the Weasley family and five hours later than the two aurors. Sirius was practically beaming, and Lupin was as happy seeing his old friend as Sirius was. While Sirius showed Lupin the house, they were talking about this and that, updating each other on what have happened since last time they saw each other. Arthur and Molly Weasley were talking to Kingsley in the drawing room, and the twins Fred and George Weasley had wandered off somewhere in the house.

Meanwhile, Draco was lying on his bed in his room. He had tried to breathe steady when panic had hit him, but just as he had started to finally calm down he heard the Weasleys knock on the door and come in. He had immediately rushed up to his room without being noticed by the other people standing in the drawing room talking. He had closed the door behind him and started walking about inside the room, drawing his hand trough his hair. Now, after he had lied down for some time, rolling on the bed, his hair was disheveled, and the thin strands that made his bangs were covering his forehead. When he opened his eyes, the eyelashes got caught in the strands, and he blinked a few times. He had spent countless of hours in this room, and he thought that when finally, he had started to get somewhat used to the idea of spending the summer, and following summers here, the Order came and invaded the otherwise quiet house. The laughters and talking of the people downstairs were clearly audible, even though they were two floors down.

He hadn't really put that much thought into this whole thing, with the Order coming to stay there. When Sirius asked him what he felt about them coming there, he couldn't really picture it, it was a surrealistic thing. But hearing them downstairs right that moment, it felt much more real. It was real.

The photo-album with a cover in brown leather was lying on his desk. He had been flipping trough it numerous times, and he knew it inside and out. He got up from his bed, and pushed his bangs aside. Soft light hit him from outside the window, making his pupils contract. He looked down at the book where it lied, and stroked it with his hand. It was soft, and the picture on the front was three-dimensional. He continued stroking it, while trying to clear out his thoughts. The thoughts that whirled in his head was, for example, the thought that the Weasley family actually was in the same house as he lived in. Though, it felt wierd to think about it that way, that he lived here now.

Ironically, the more he tried to focus on getting rid of all the annoying thoughts, the more confused he started to get, so he gave up and tried to ignore them, or not to think at all. He opened the photo-album, and looked trough it while standing in front of the desk.

It gave him comfort to look at the smiling faces of his beloved relatives, especially his mother. It felt like forever since the last time he saw her, and this album made it possible for him to revisit her mentally. A warm feeling started to spread in his cold and broken down body. The first time he looked trough the photo album, all feelings possible welled up inside him. But now, since he had looked trough it so many times, they didn't anymore. Maybe it was just that he had gotten used to the feelings, that welled up inside of him when he looked at the pictures - he hadn't figured that out yet.

Yellow, soft light suddenly hit the pages of the album, and Draco looked up to see where it came from. The light came from outside the window, where a crack had been made in the grey clouds and a small ray of sunlight had made its way trough. He closed the album and walked to the window. Outside, everything was grey, except the leaves on the trees in the park in front of the house. The houses looked plain and dirty as usual, with rust on everything metal, and garbage cans overflowing with trash. There were small puddles of water on the asphalt, which only reflected the grey clouds above. They hung heavily above London, and it looked like they would drop any second and eat the city up.

Draco sighed quietly for himself, but then he noticed something black in the clouds, like a tiny dot. It grew bigger and bigger until he could see wings flapping.

It was a harris hawk, with brown feathers, a sharp, yellow and grey beak and gigantic wings. It flew closer, circled the park once, then flew away again, and everything in a matter of seconds. It was a beautiful sight.

Seeing the hawk, Draco remembered his eagle owl, who he had let out two days ago. She still hadn't returned. He wasn't worried, and he assumed she was happy to finally be outside. Thinking of his owl, with the vague wish in the back of his head that she'd return with a letter, he remembered the letters he got from Pansy sometime ago. He had put them deep down in the top drawer of the desk to protect them. He walked back to the desk and opened the top drawer where he kept the ink, his quill, some parchment and the letters in their envelopes, which were lying on the bottom. He took them out, one by one, and took them out of the envelopes. He read them in the order they were sent.

The warm feeling he got when looking trough the photo album was enhanced, and started to warm up him, and a big smile spread across his lips. He didn't notice the tears falling from his eyes until they hit the letter he was holding in his hand. He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his cardigan. Then he noticed that the sounds from downstairs had faded away, almost completely, and he realized that he couldn't stay in his room for eternity. Now was probably the best time to go downstairs, he thought, and wiped his eyes again. Thinking about the people downstairs made his gaze grow cold, and his smile to disappear, but he had to do it. He brushed his clothes, and walked out of the door. One step at the time, he got closer to the people who sat three floors down in the dining room, having a low-voice discussion. The stairs creaked as he walked. He got down to the first floow, and took five long steps until he reached the threshold to the dining room. When the people in the room noticed him standing there, they all got quiet, but of different reasons. Sirius looked happy, and so did Lupin. Kingsley, Molly and Moody looked like they didn't care too much, and Arthur Weasley had a stern look on his face. Ginny seemed shy, and Fred, George and Ron looked plain angry, like it was Draco intruding, not them.


End file.
